'Judas goats' to help feed the lions

A mob of feral goats in the Mid-Murray region of South Australia will be shot and fed to the lions at the Monarto Zoo.

It is part of the Mid Murray local action planning committee's 'Judas Goat' program, to minimise the impact of the pests on local wildlife.

The committee launched the program in the Swan Reach area last November.

Under the program, goats wearing satellite tracking collars are released into the wild and monitored until they find a mob.

The committee's project manager, Aimee Linke, says the Monarto Zoo will then shoot the goats and remove them from the area.

Ms Linke says it is an exciting new partnership.

"So I can keep both Judas goats working and if we find more feral goats then there'll be ... an ongoing relationship with Monarto where they can keep using them for lion meat," she said.

"So it's an awesome way of recycling something that possibly could have been left to rot in the field.

"Goats eat everything and destroy our native vegetation, so even for a farmer, it's competing with sheep if they're grazing, but in ... a natural environment it's competing with other things like the kangaroos and wombats and things for feed and ... they destroy trees."